Emergency PreparednessTest + SkillsTeam Event

CERT Skills

Two-person teams take a 50-question disaster response test, then top teams perform SALT triage, airway and bleeding control, head-to-toe assessment, lifts and carries, and splinting.

The AI judge does not score skill stations. Use the practice test for Round One.

About this event

CERT Skills is a two-person team event for the Secondary and Postsecondary/Collegiate divisions built on the FEMA Community Emergency Response Team program. In Round One each member takes a 50-question multiple-choice test in 60 minutes written from the FEMA IS-317 online course, the CERT participant manual, the Red Cross First Aid for Severe Trauma course and the SALT mass casualty triage training; the team's average score decides who advances. Life-threatening interventions and SALT triage are 30 percent of the test, medical operations 20 percent, disaster preparedness and light search and rescue 15 percent each, with small slices on CERT organization, disaster psychology, fire safety and terrorism. Top teams advance to Round Two, a secret scenario drawn from five skills: SALT triage of two or three patients (4 minutes), treating life-threatening conditions with one rescuer opening an airway and the other controlling bleeding with a tourniquet (5), a head-to-toe assessment of one patient per rescuer (5), lifts and carries including the pack-strap carry, two-person carry, chair carry and blanket drag (8), and splinting a closed fracture together (5). Teams bring a disaster kit with PPE, bandaging, a tourniquet, triage tape, tags and documentation supplies. A 70 percent skill score is needed to place; the averaged test score is added to the skill score, and ties go to the higher average test score.

Test day

What to expect

Round One test, then skill stations

Round One is a 50-question test in 60 minutes; the top scorers advance to Round Two, the skill stations. Official format: 50-question test, 60 minutes (team average), then Round Two skill scenarios of 4 to 8 minutes each for top teams.

Written from the test plan

Questions follow the event's published test plan, section by section, and are written from the listed reference texts. Practice questions here are drawn in the same proportions.

How you advance

How many advance from regionals to states and on to the International Leadership Conference (ILC) depends on your association's rules. Study the official test plan: it lists each section and its share of the test.

What judges score

Skill I: Triage, SALT Method, 2 to 3 patients (4 minutes)Skill II-A: Treating Life-Threatening Conditions, Open Airway, Rescuer 1 (5 minutes)Skill II-B: Treating Life-Threatening Conditions, Controlling Bleeding, Rescuer 2 (5 minutes)Skill III: Head-to-Toe Assessment, one patient per rescuer (5 minutes)Skill IV: Lifts and Carries (8 minutes)Skill V: Splinting a Closed Fracture (5 minutes)

What's on the test

Disaster Preparedness · 15%CERT Organization · 5%Life Threatening Interventions and SALT Triage · 30%Medical Operations · 20%Disaster Psychology · 5%Fire Safety · 5%Light Search and Rescue Operations · 15%Terrorism · 5%

Study resources

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